Hunting and gathering populations occupied the area of what is now Guinea about 30,000 years ago, and farming has been practiced there for about 3,000 years. About 900 CE the Susu and Malinke (Maninka) began to encroach on the Baga, Koniagi (Coniagui), and Nalu (Nalou) populations who had been living in the area. The towns and villages of Upper Guinea were incorporated into the Mali empire from the mid-13th century, and by the 16th century the Fulani (Fulbe) had established domination over the Fouta Djallon, the mountainous region of what is now west-central Guinea.

The Portuguese presence on the coast dates from the 15th century, when they developed a slave trade that would continue to affect Guinea until the mid-19th century. British and French trading interests on the coast played minor roles in the historical evolution of the Guinean interior until the almamy (ruler) of Fouta Djallon placed his country under French protection in 1881. The independent Malinke state, ruled by Samory Touré, resisted the French military until 1898, and isolated small groups of Africans continued to resist the French until the end of World War I (1914–18).

Colonial era

The French protectorate of Rivières du Sud was detached from Senegal as a separate colony in 1890. As French Guinea, it became part of the Federation of French West Africa in 1895. Treaties with Liberia and Great Britain largely established the present boundaries by World War I.

Under the 1946 constitution of the French Fourth Republic, a small number of French-educated Africans in Guinea were allowed to vote for deputies to the French National Assembly. In the 1958 referendum on the constitution for the French Fifth Republic, only Guinea—under the influence of Sékou Touré, who later became the country’s first president—voted against membership in the French Community. Guinea thus became independent.

Independence

Guinea came to occupy a special position among African states for its unqualified rejection of neocolonial control. Touré’s rule (1958–84) grew increasingly more repressive, however. Denied French assistance, Guinea contracted loans and economic and trade agreements with the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. When it failed to become a full economic partner in the Soviet bloc, Guinea turned to France and other Western countries for capital and technical assistance in the waning years of Touré’s regime. Under Touré’s uncertain economic leadership, however, the potentially wealthy country did not prosper.

Throughout Touré’s rule, difficulties of economic adjustment and political reorganization caused him to become increasingly obsessed with what he perceived as opposition. Probably the event that had the most negative effect was the Portuguese-backed invasion of Conakry by Guinean dissidents. Such real conspiracies, together with a myriad of imaginary ones, led to show trials, imprisonments, and executions of dissidents and other suspects. Gradually power was concentrated in the hands of Touré and his predominantly Malinke associates. Members of his own family occupied leading government posts, from which illicit earnings were drawn on a large scale. Though the Democratic Party of Guinea, which Touré had led since 1953, retained control, it ceased to enjoy the mass support it had had in the late 1950s and early ’60s. Touré’s death in 1984 left party leaders with little grassroots support. The ensuing military coup began with fairly strong support from the general public.

The Military Committee for National Recovery (Comité Militaire de Redressement National; CMRN), under Col. Lansana Conté, Guinea’s second president (1984–2008), endorsed the concept of a pluralist society. Private ownership and international investment were actively supported, while the role of the state in the economy was reduced. In the late 1980s Guinea sought reintegration into French-speaking western Africa and the Franc Zone (a group of African countries whose currencies were linked to the French franc at a fixed rate of exchange), to which it never achieved entry.

Although a new constitution was adopted in 1991 and the first multiparty elections were held in 1993, the Conté government’s move toward political and economic liberalization was slow, and civil unrest and protest continued during the 1990s. In 1996 the government survived an attempted military coup. Meanwhile, Guinea became embroiled in the ongoing civil wars in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Guinea and Liberia accused each other of supporting opposition dissidents, and in 2000 Guinean dissidents and Sierra Leone’s rebel army, the Revolutionary United Front, led large-scale incursions into Guinea. At least 1,000 Guineans were killed during the incursions, and thousands more were displaced. As the civil wars raged, several hundred thousand refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone poured into Guinea—adding to the tension between Guinea and its neighbours.

A national referendum in 2001 amended the constitution to allow for unlimited presidential terms and to extend each term from five to seven years. In January 2007 a number of unions, political groups, and civilian societies formed an alliance to contest the high cost of living and government corruption in the country, and they demanded Conté’s resignation. During demonstrations led by the alliance, several protesters were killed by Guinean security forces. A state of emergency was declared in February; nevertheless, violent protests, this time led by soldiers who demanded better pay, broke out again in May.

Despite ongoing turbulence (and an assassination attempt against him in 2005), Conté maintained power until his death on Dec. 22, 2008. Soon after the news of his death was made public, a faction of the military launched a coup and announced that it had dissolved the government. The National Council for Democracy and Development (Conseil National pour la Démocratie et le Développement; CNDD), with Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara as president, was created to serve as a transitional government. The CNDD promised to hold elections within one year and vowed to fight rampant corruption. Various African and Western governments denounced the coup, and Guinea was temporarily suspended from several international organizations.

In August 2009 Camara announced that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held in January and March 2010, respectively. Despite earlier promises that he and other members of the junta would not stand in the elections, there were rumours that Camara planned to run for president, which he did not deny. On September 28 tens of thousands of people flocked to an opposition rally protesting Camara’s potential candidacy; the military’s brutal response to the gathering resulted in the deaths of at least 150 people (although the government claimed only 57 people died) and injuries to more than a thousand. In the days that followed, Camara banned all further opposition gatherings. He also attempted to distance himself from the actions of the military at the rally and called for the opposition to join him in the formation of a unity government; the opposition rejected his call as being insincere and unrealistic. Two weeks after the rally, opposition groups called for a two-day general strike, which effectively disrupted the country’s important bauxite mining industry as well as daily life in Guinean cities, where many businesses were closed and most people stayed in their homes in observance of the strike. On October 15 the International Criminal Court announced it was conducting a preliminary investigation into the military’s September 28 actions.

On Dec. 3, 2009, the CNDD announced that Camara had been the target of an assassination attempt led by Lieut. Aboubacar Diakite, a former aide who was widely considered to have been a leading figure in the army’s brutal reaction to the September 28 rally. Reportedly grazed in the head by a bullet, Camara was flown to Morocco for surgery the next day; CNDD vice president and defense minister Gen. Sekouba Konate served as interim president in Camara’s absence.A week after the attack on Camara, a spokesperson for the CNDD accused France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, of being involved in the assassination attempt; the French government denied the allegation

Camara left Morocco on Jan. 12, 2010, and flew to Burkina Faso. He met with Burkinabé president Blaise Compaoré, who had been working for several months to mediate an agreement between Guinea’s military junta and the opposition. A pact was signed on Jan. 15, 2010, in which Camara agreed to continue his recuperation outside of Guinea, allowing Konate to remain as interim head of the junta. Konate was to work with a new prime minister, selected by the opposition, who would lead a new transitional administration that would hold national elections within six months.